perfect little lies | jason dilaurentis

002. The Jenna Thing

Rachel and the girls sat around a table at the Grille. Some of them had food and some just had drinks. Rachel sipped on a lemon water with spoonfuls of sugar inside; it was free, which was perfect. She barely had enough money to eat and pay rent, let alone pay for something as insignificant as a drink.

"Why was Jenna there?" Aria asked, talking about the funeral.

"I guess she's back." Spencer said.

"That cop acted like we were suspects or something." Hanna mentioned.

"Do you think we looked guilty?" Emily asked.

"Why would we? We haven't done anything wrong." Rachel assured her.

"Except lie about the Jenna thing." Hanna added.

"We promised we'd never bring up the Jenna thing again, remember? It never happened." Spencer muttered to them. They always got scared when mentioning Jenna.

"Have you found a way to forget? I still wake up sometimes in the middle of the night." Aria said, eyebrows raised.

"Aria, it was an accident." Spencer affirmed.
Hanna poured alcohol into her flask, assuring an onlooker that it was "medicinal" and for "cramps". Rachel chuckled at her excuse.

"I don't get it. How does 'A' know something about me that only Alison knew?" Emily questioned.

"Ali knew all of our secrets, but we never knew any of hers." Aria stated. She was completely right. Rachel could barely name anything that was anything close to a secret about Alison.

"I knew some." Spencer said. The girls encouraged her to tell them, but Spencer chickened out. "I can't. Alison would kill me if she found out I told anyone."

"She's dead!" Hanna exclaimed. Spencer sighed and decided to talk.

"Ali was seeing someone that summer." Spencer explained, "It was an older boy and he had a girlfriend, so she didn't want anyone to know."

"Who was it?" Emily asked.

"She never told me his name." Spencer explained.

"That's only half the secret." Hanna complained.

"It's more than you ever got from her." Hanna didn't argue back, so Spencer was right.

"How is that Ali told us nothing, and we told her everything?" Aria questioned.

"Because she made us feel like we were part of something special." Emily said.

"We were." Rachel reminded them, "I miss those times." All of the girls agreed with that.

Emily played with her bracelet, the one with her name on it. All of the girls had matching ones. "I can't believe you still wear that." Hanna commented.

"Ali still wears hers. Wore." Emily corrected herself.
The girls continued their conversation, talking about what they wished Ali was doing instead of spending her time six feet under. At the beach, flirting with hot guys, shopping in the biggest malls in America— anything other than their current reality.

They were interrupted by the sound of the Grille door opening. Usually, that would've been nothing of importance, but who walked in was very important.

Jenna walked inside, her cane tapping against the floor so she could tell where she was walking. The five girls stared at her as she sat down at the bar, before all silently agreeing to leave. Rachel didn't want her to hear any of their voices, nor did she want to look at her.

She felt too bad about what they had caused.

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